Monday, January 3, 2011

This week’s Magical Monday revisits the lunar eclipse from the night of December 21st.

During our celebration my husband, Steve, took photos I’d like to share. It was an unusually cold night here south of Tampa, about 40 degrees, but the skies were perfectly clear, allowing some good opportunities for photos. However, even with a tripod, the long exposure made focusing and avoiding slight camera shake difficult.

The early hours of the eclipse with the Earth’s shadow just beginning to pass over the moon:

Total eclipse gave a pink-orange glow. The color was caused by the sun’s rays passing the sides of the Earth, through our planet’s atmosphere and refracting in those gases, to bend as orange wavelengths onto the moon’s surface. Those reflected to us, hence the observation of the eerie orange moon. Science aside…quite a magical site!